Sonic Youth Gossip - The band you've tried hardest to like but never got there?

Sonic Youth Gossip (http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/index.php)

- Non-Sonic Sounds (http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/forumdisplay.php?f=4)

- - The band you've tried hardest to like but never got there? (http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=23731)

I understand what you're saying with this thread. I agree with the Queens of the Stoneage vs. Kyuss comment, actually. I've seen them perforn a few times, and am sometimes impressed, othertimes not. Be Your Own Pet, and all those other "party anthem for hipsters" music that often associated with that band.

I guess I just look at challenging in a different way than you.

I think "challenging" means I'm challenging my tastes, challenging my perception of what's good or whatever. Magik Markers are easy listening; they don't challenge me in the least, from any angle. They don't appeal to me in any way. At this point, nothing really challenges me, because I actually try to listen to and appreciate everything now. What would I consider challenging music? I guess Jandek.. Jon - Smoke (a little girl playing an organ and singing for 20 minutes)... you know, stuff that's difficult to get into.

I guess it creates a condtradiction in a sense, if challenging music is music you actively seek out because it's difficult to listen to. But I end up being rewarded often when discovered guys banging on cans for hours and it ends up being completely compelling and amazing in a surreal way. I wouldn't label Markers as a challenge at all... unless I'm just not understanding your point. They're, like, easy listening rock music that make noise and I don't like their songs .

i will say most bands that i love i loved right away. black flag, minor threat, bad brains, negative approach, bikini kill, gang of four, sonic youth are just a few bands that blew my mind when i first heard them. then there's bands that i like and then latched on with love after a bit. then there's bands that i liked and then disliked after 6 months or so (hatebreed being one of them). there's very few bands i disliked and then loved later on.

I don't think new music needs to be challenging. I like some shitty talentless music, and I fully enjoy it regardless of its lack of challenge. I give stuff a chance because I don't wanna miss out on stuff I might enjoy. Simple as that.

But on the other hand, if you find enough new music that challeges you and brings you your own form of enjoyment, there's no point in giving other stuff a chance. As long as you got music to enjoy, it doesn't matter how you go about it.

I don't believe a thing that challenges your perception of what's good is only challenging when it successfully changes your perception of what's good. I say what is bad also challenges or conflicts with your perception of what's good. Easy listening can also be a challenge. The only music that isn't challenging is music that you already like, if you find that you prefer abrasive music then easy listening will become a challenge to bare with. Journalists have used the term for so long to talk about bands that have challenged mainstream societies' tastes but on a personal level the mainstream societies' tastes can be just as challenging to a person less inclined. Remember that Merzbow quote I believe about noise and pop?

From my list of favourite bands, I don't think I loved anything straight away. I would find the music interesting enough to listen to again, and then it would grow on me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

just because your first or second reaction is "I do not like it" does not mena that is the correct reaction.
you must be a skeptic even to your own feelings and thoughts.

There are a ton of bands that I love dearly, that I consider fantastic in the extreme, which, upon my first or second listen sounded horrible, but I forced mysef to listen again and again, and the greatness of the music dawned on me slowly.
this happens to each of us, for various reasons.

I love Morphine. when I first heard cure for pain when it came out I could not STAND IT. I could not understand it's instrumentation (no guitar, just saxophone and bass), why the production sounded that way (not rough "punk sounding"), why he sang about topics a 36 year old sings about (I was just 22) etc.
Repeated listens opened my ears and my mind.

The same thing can be said by me for Bob Marley and all reggae music, for delta blues, for Phish, for original ska music, for most jazz,

hell! for sonic youth themselves! at the age of 16, a thrash metal/hardcore headbanger in the extreme, I could not grasp nor like daydream nation, but I forced, yes, forced myself o listen to it over and over again (a by product of having to pay full price for an album with your chores allowance, something you freeloading download thieves will never understand) and it was an epiphany!

sonic youth is my all time fave band, and daydream nation is my all time fave record.

if a band is EASY to get/like it ussually means they are easy to get bored with.

I love the enthusiasm you fill your every single post with, Rob. This may sound silly, but you must be a truly happy person.

smashing pumpkins
polvo
i tried really hard to find a redeeming quality in both of these bands. i couldn't.

Diamanda Galas
The Fall

Joy Division.
A couple of their songs mean a lot to me, (Disorder, She's Lost Control, Heart and Soul, Love Will Tear Us Apart) but it's bewildering to think that a person could listen to an entire album of those life-sucking moans. But so many people love that shit so much, and I want to see what they appreciate about it.
I've been meaning to listen to their first two albums again, because age does funny things to yr music tastes- I didn't like Sonic Youth or Pink Floyd the first time I heard them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cantankerous

smashing pumpkins
polvo
i tried really hard to find a redeeming quality in both of these bands. i couldn't.

Totally agree w/you on Smashing Pumpkins - I called them "Gash Central" earlier on in this thread. Whiny and dull commerical rock music that sends Melly into a coma of boredom.

ZEROpumpkins - had a v quick listen to one of your tracks today - very impressive. Will give this and the others a proper listen over the weekend :)

I love SP's Siamese Dream but beyond that, I don't get the big deal either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZEROpumpkins

JAMC

Have you listened to anything besides Psychocandy?

Clutch just plain suck

ha!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Death & the Maiden

Have you listened to anything besides Psychocandy?

No, I'm just not a fan of Jim's voice

Another band I've never managed to get is Aerosmith. I've listened to albums like "Toys In The Attic", but they do nothing for me - it just seems like a re-hashed Stones/Cooper hybrid. I'd far rather listen to the Stones or Alice Cooper instead at any time.

I too have tried over and over to listen to aerosmith

I fucking hate them

same for the NY Dolls
they sound like a bunch of boring drunk drag queens trying to do a rocky horror type show.

thing about Aerosmith is there best songs are ones no one knows. earlier stuff, tucked away amongst their hits. no one plays anything off Night in the Ruts or Draw the Line i.e., but there are some great rock songs on there. But yeah, like Rush, i haven't liked anything post 85 by em'..